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Monday, March 28, 2016

MILESTONE

okay guys, this is definitely blog-worthy...

the paci, our most prized possession for the past three years eight months and three days, is GONE!

since cooper was about 12 months old people who like to tell me what to do with my child have been telling me that he was too old for his paci but i honestly have never cared about it. when he went in for his first dentist appointment at three years old i was prepared to be told that his paci was ruining his teeth and that it needed to go, and i was going to listen, but it never came. she said it wasn't a concern and that was that. i figured when it became more of a hassle than a helpful soother we would let it go. i KNEW he wasn't going to go off to college with a paci so i just chose not to worry about it. plus, it was his only comfort item since birth and i felt like a real jerk just thinking about taking it away.

well fast forward to friday march 11th, we're at the movies with my sister and niece and cooper keeps dropping his paci's on the floor and then freaking out. he had already bitten most of them so the ends were partly hanging off which made it really easy for me to just rip the ends off leaving just a hole. i decided enough was enough, 3.5 years old was too big to be throwing a fit about a paci in the movies. he was pretty pissed at me initially but it was really SO easy. i can't believe i dreaded this big step for so long and he was mostly unaffected by it. he asked for it a couple of times but it has now been two weeks and he doesn't even talk about it!

i feel sad about it but i'm also really happy that it went down like it did. it's hard to let go of that last thing that's keeping your baby a "baby" but it was for the best, for both of us. i'm a little embarrassed to admit this but cooper has really not ever slept through the night consistently until now. he would always wake up looking for his paci and get upset and i would have to go in there and settle him back down, almost nightly.

so the best part about the paci being a thing of the past? i'd say sleep. blissful, uninterrupted sleep.

if you want my advice on getting rid of the paci or even using one to begin with i'll tell you this: YES you want your child to have a paci - they make life with a baby easier and quieter :) when it's time to get rid of it, just do it and don't feel like just because your child is one or two years old that it automatically means it's time to be done with it. i would have never taken coopers away from him like i did if i didn't think he could emotionally handle it. when it's time you'll know!